One Night
by Seshennu
Summary: There is a single night each year, where the spirits of the dead can walk freely among the living. What, though, might they do with this power?


One Night

.:Gatochu:.

Disclaimer: YuYu Hakusho is owned by Yoshihiro Togashi.

Author's Notes: Happy Halloween! For the purposes of this fic, Kuronue has a messenger bag and Youko's pants are tightened at his ankles by metal clasps, so there's no openings. ...Don't ask, you'll get it later. n.n;

This is a re-uploaded version. The previous version had minor spelling and grammar typos that I've (hopefully) fixed. Nothing else has been changed.

Warnings: Alcohol consumption, some thievery. Very, very light cursing ("d" word, twice). Nothing real offensive, folks!

Pairings: None! n.n

Feedback: Yes, please! XD In all honesty, though, please leave a constructive review. I don't mind if you just drop in and say "great story" or whatever, just tell me WHY you like it, or even WHY you don't! Flames will also be accepted, laughed at, and discarded.

Dedication: This fanfiction is dedicated to every child who loves Halloween, but is unable to celebrate it due to family members who see it as crossing their own personal opinions, as well as the belief that it crosses with their religion. Happy Halloween, guys, you're not forgotten.

* * *

_There is a single day each year, where the spirits of the dead are said to be able to return to life. There is a single night each year, where said spirits can walk freely among the living. While I believe without a doubt this day exists, I've never witnessed this one night yet..._

_

* * *

_

_As I leave school, I find Yusuke Urameshi and Kazuma Kuwabara waiting for me at the gate. They brighten as they see me, and call me over, remembering to use my human name. I quicken my pace to join them as we walk. There is no hurry - it is a Friday afternoon, there is nothing that needs to be done._

_They joke to each other, and tell me of their school-less day. They'd skipped as usual, and made frequent trips to the arcade and several costume shops - despite their age, they were going candy collecting tonight._

_Yusuke turns to me and asks me what I'll be going as. I inform him that I'll probably be spending the night indoors, handing out candy. I might, I add, dress as a fox, though._

_The three of us laugh at the secret reference to my true form, and eventually separate paths to our homes. Night will come in a few hours. I need to prepare._

_

* * *

_

He stretched lazily on the couch and stroked the creature's fuzzy white fur, right behind the ears on that one spot that made it purr in contentment. He glanced at the clock, and then out the window, stopping the motion. The white-haired fox sat up and gave a short yip, not pleased that he'd stopped.

"You hush." He said sternly, amber eyes locking with the other's. They stared at each other for a few moments before he burst into laughter, the fox making a strange noise in his throat resembling a snicker. He stood up, the fox hopping off the couch and shaking its fur, all four tails twitching with anticipation. He kneeled by it and stroked its back, long fingernails slightly pointed. "It won't be much longer now," he said with another glance out the window. "The sun is setting. In less than an hour, Youko Kurama will walk among the living once more." The fox yipped once more, eager to leave the confines of the house as well.

* * *

The youko fingered the small chocolates wrapped in colorful plastic. There was an entire bowl full, obviously meant for the small children that kept ringing his doorbell. He'd given out the candy quite generously to the very young children, but as they got older, he found himself giving out candy based on the quality of the costume. The better the costume, the more the child recieved.

Although he thought himself to be a fair judge, he'd recieved many glares, and two children had given him the finger (their parents apologized quite profusly afterwards). It had gotten darker now, and the youko had turned off the porch light, refusing to answer the doorbell. From this point on, it would be the older children, teenagers who refused to grow up. He felt no guilt in his decision, there were many out there who would amuse them. He had more important things to do, now.

The fox sat at his feet and nudged him with his cold nose. "I know, I know. But we can't go just yet." He stared impatiently out the window, the sky still reluctant to fully change colors. Finally, and with much relief, all the sky was dark. He opened the door, and the fox ran out into the cool grass, rolling and playing.

Youko himself waited a moment, letting the cool breeze dance around him before stepping outside of the house. A brief tingle ran through his body as he turned and locked the door, placing the key in its designated "secret" hiding place under a rock. He turned to the street and grinned. This night was his.

* * *

Youko wandered through the side streets of Tokyo, spirit fox at his side. He'd long since given up on walking through the crowded main streets, there were too many humans still out for his liking. Too many curious children wanting to see if his tail was real... No, there had been more than enough tail-pulling for one night.

The fox yipped as it ran ahead into the grass. With a look around, Youko realized he'd stumbled onto the foreigner's cemetary. He gave a 'hm' and walked in, following the fox as it ran, jumped and chased one of its four tails, its yipps echoing slightly. Youko climbed a small hill that overlooked the rest of the cemetary. Far below the fox had begun to snap at fireflies. He turned around, and saw a magnificent statue. Part of a grave, it was standing on a huge white, rectangular stone base. On one end was a pure white angel, arms outstretched downwards, wings slightly cracked with age. On the other end, sitting down, was a dark figure, eyes closed, looking mournful. After taking a few steps closer, one eye on the dark figure opened. Youko jumped, having been caught off guard. The figure smiled thinly before standing up.

"Karasu." The youko grimaced. "What are you doing here?"

The raven chuckled. "I could ask the same of you. But if you simply _must_ know," he tilted his head, eyes glittering. "I'm merely taking advantage of the night, just as you are."

"Alive again for one night, and all you do is star-gaze, and pretend to be a part of the scenery? I find that rather hard to believe." Youko accused, arms crossed. Next to him the spirit fox had returned, its eyes not moving from the other.

"Believe what you want, then. I had not expected to find you here." He tilted his head once more. "But it does make things far more interesting. Might I join you this night? I mean no harm." He bowed deeply, acting the role of the perfect gentleman.

The youko rolled his eyes. "Yes, why not. You'd never beat me in a real fight, should you try it anyway."

The raven glared at him from his bow. "Remind me to set a day aside to drop that theory." He said flatly, straightening.

Youko chuckled. "We'll see." He turned and looked around. "The human children should mostly be at home now. Let's go back to Tokyo." He began to walk down the hill, stopping when he realized he was not being followed. He turned around and saw that not only was Karasu gazing upwards, so too, was the spirit fox.

"What on earth are you staring at?" He grumbled as he walked up the hill. "Some bat?"

"I suppose you could say that." Karasu answered.

Youko glanced up and saw a shadowy figure sitting on a tree branch.

"Notice the bird, but screw the bat. I see where your loyalty lies... Youko." He looked down at him with a very familiar set of eyes.

Youko's face lit up. "Kuronue!" He exclaimed, and leapt up to him.

Kuronue gasped as his breath was knocked from him. The two landed on the stiff ground, though Youko's fall was lightened considerably.

"It's been a long time," he said as he sat upon the bat's chest. "Where have you been these past years?" He asked.

"Looking for you, obviously. Would've caught up with you sooner if you hadn't gotten yourself stuck in the human world." He shook his head. "Always the risk-taker, hm? You never change."

Youko chuckled. "Yes, I suppose I am quite predictable, though you -" He paused, sensing movement behind him. "Who's there?" He called out, craning his neck to see behind him.

"The fox, the bat and the bird. What a gathering. Though no party could be complete without the firefly, hm?" A small, shadowy figure stepped out of the bushes.

The youko grinned slyly. "No, Hiei. What party could we have without you?"

Hiei smirked, then looked the three over. "Your youki is flying across this place. Can't you suppress it?"

Kuronue looked at the others, still under the youko. "Can we do that? Tonight?" He asked. Karasu shrugged and Youko snorted.

"Why bother? It's just for one night - _our_ night." He grinned. "And the humans all believe that 'crazy' things happen tonight anyway, should they sense us." He shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. So, let's go." He stood up, ignoring a murmured comment from Kuronue about his weight.

"Kurama," Karasu began. "Just what are we going to do tonight? Wander?"

"Far from it," he responded, making a list of events in his mind. "We're going to enjoy every bit of this night... The way humans do." He grinned, leading them out of the cemetary.

Kuronue blinked. "Human sacrifices and temple dancers, then?" Karasu 'hm'd', interested now.

The youko shook his head. "A thousand-some years ago, maybe. We'll be doing something more, ah, modern." He stopped in front of a convienance store. "This will do," he said, reading the ads in the shop window. He turned to the others. "Wait right here, now." He grinned, the walked inside.

About ten minutes later, he returned, holding a large box with four pumpkins inside. He turned his head and called to the owner, "And a very happy Halloween to you as well!"

Once more, the group begand to walk on. There was silence until Kuronue turned to the Youko. "All right, tell us just what you took that fills out your pants so much." Youko smirked, his once loose pants now seemed to be stuffed, with what the others knew were not his legs and thighs.

"You'll see... When we return to my home. For now," he reached into the box and handed out a plastic container to each of them. Karasu had a skull, Kuronue a frowning pumpkin, and Hiei some sort of monster. The youko took his own, a smiling pumpkin, and glanced at it. "We need to do this, first."

"And just _what_ are we going to do with these?" Hiei asked, raising an eyebrow quizically.

"Why, we're going trick-or-treating of course!"

* * *

_I have never seen the night, never a moment past five. It's not a blacking out, like falling unconscious. It's more like falling asleep without trying. You close your eyes to blink, and when you open them again, five hours have past. You don't realize it until you look at a clock, or outside of a window. It just sort of ... happens._

_

* * *

_

"Trick or Treat!" The group exclaimed, with varying amounts of enthusiasm.

"Oh, my, what costumes!" The old woman said, giving them each two small pouches filled with treats. "Why, you're a fox," she pointed to Youko, who nodded. "You're a bat," Kuronue grinned. "You're a vampire," Karasu, at the youko's request, had removed his mask, but kept himself from powering up. "And you are..." she trailed off at Hiei.

"Ah, he's a ninja," Youko said quickly. He reached over and brushed aside Hiei's cloak. "See? He has a katana and everything."

"Oh, of course! How clever!" She smiled. The group said their thank-you's and walked on. A few moments later, Hiei spoke up.

"Just what is the point of all this?"

Youko laughed and pointed to Hiei's full pumpkin. "Why, free candy, of course. Hm, speaking of which," he shook his own pumpkin, noting that it was quite full. "I need to empty mine again." He pulled open the waist band of his pants and dumped the contents in.

Kuronue rolled his eyes as he emptied his own pumpkin into his messenger bag. "Remind me not to let you share your candy with me."

The youko shrugged as he emptied Karasu's skull container in the same way. "More for me, then. Hm... I'm running out of room..." He looked to his pants which were now bulging. "Hm... Hiei, where have you been putting your candy at?"

The other lifted his left hand. Clenched tight in his fist was his white scarf, which he'd converted into a makeshift bag.

He nodded. "Well, we've enough candy for the night, anyway. Shuichi's home is up ahead, we'll stop there and drop off our treasures."

* * *

The four stared wide-eyed at the huge pile on the floor. Their collection of candy combined had created a miniature mountain of goodies. Rolling off the top of the pile were the items the youko had stolen from the convienance store.

Karasu reached over and picked up a couple of the items. "...Toilet paper? And shaving cream?"

"The eggs and beer I understand. ...Sort of." Kuronue announced, beginning to juggle said items.

"What the hell is 'silly string', and why is it in a can?" Hiei murmured, peering at the brightly colored tubes.

Youko chuckled. "These tools are the keys to a good night. We'll be using the cause ... mm, property damage." He grinned.

"Even the beer?" Kuronue asked wide-eyed, holding a few cans close to himself.

"No, of course not. That's for us."

Three sighs of relief came at this, the others having thought Youko had lost his wits for a moment.

"Well," the youko began, standing up. "Let's get to it!"

* * *

"How sad, you must be. That permanent smile carved into your face, while the inside of your head is hollow, empty..." Karasu muttered, holding the face. "It saddens me, knowing that your pretty face will eventually rot and mold... So I'm going to do you a favor, by destroying every inch of you."

"Karasu!" Youko yelled. "Just smash the damn thing already!"

Karasu glared at him from the corner of his eye. Sighing, he tossed the pumpkin onto the ground. It broke with a light crack, the remaining seeds spilling onto the road.

"There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Youko asked, after tossing another out past Karasu's.

"I suppose not. It felt interestingly... rejuvinating..." A sly smile inched its way across the raven's face. "Let's do that again."

Across the street and down a short ways, Hiei could be found throwing eggs onto sidewalks and the sides of houses, as well as the occasional car that passed by. Kuronue, on the other hand, had begun to busy himself with throwing toilet paper into trees, making sure to fly up so that it could reach the rooves of peoples homes and the tops of their trees, where it would stay until someone removed it, rather than the wind.

He sat on a tree branch, admiring his handiwork. "Not too shabby, eh, guys?" He called down.

"Hmm... Very nice, Kuronue." Youko said. The front of his pantlegs were slightly orange, pumpkin seeds stuck to him in some places. "You are truly an artist. In fact, Kuronue, I think that -" He stopped as he felt something hit, and then break on his back. He didn't need to look at or feel the cloth shirt to know there was a trailing yellow mess upon it. He turned slowly, seeing Hiei leaning against a fence post with a smirk, tossing and catching an egg in one hand.

"You know, fox. You never commented on _my_ work. I should have been the first, you know."

The youko grinned, eyes disturbingly calm. "Yes, Hiei. You are absolutely right. Allow me to show you just how much I _adore_ your work now." He lunged at the boy, who dodged easily. Eager to join in the fun, Karasu and Kuronue soon joined the fray, pumpkins, toilet paper, eggs, shaving cream and silly string flying through the air at one another, making a huge mess. Farther away, the spirit fox yawned, watching the demons mock-fight. They certainly were making the most of thier night.

* * *

Messy and exhausted, the troop had returned to Shuichi's home, sprawled upon the furniture and floor of the living room. Still in the center of the room was the gigantic pile of candies and treats the four had gathered.

"So, Youko," Kuronue began from the floor. "What next?"

Above him on the couch, the youko glanced at him, then cast a wary eye at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning. Just where had the time gone? Surely, their mischief-making couldn't have lasted this long..? He looked down at the bat again, and then the other two, who were watching him - awaiting his answer. He slid off the couch and sat in front of the large pile.

"Now," he began. "Now we feast. And we become reaquainted with one another." He glanced at the beer bottles which had been neatly stacked away from the candies, and passed one to everyone. "So, where do we begin?"

* * *

"An' then," Kuronue laughed, speech slightly slurred. "The big idi't went an' kissed the damn toad! An' ah'm pretty sure ther'us _tongue_ too!" Karasu and Hiei laughed, while the youko fumed.

"Shu' up!" Youko yelled as he tossed a wad of candy at them all. Like Kuronue, and Karasu and Hiei as well, Youko was drunk, so it came as no surprise that the only thing he managed to hit was some furniture and a vase.

The spirit fox rushed overto the candies and began pawing at them, tearing them apart from their wrapper. Once they were free, he gobbled them up. As he did so, the group began telling more stories from their pasts, each one with proceeding levels of self-embarassment, as though they were trying to top each other.

The white fox yawned, and glanced out of the window. The sky was lightening, slowly. Turning his attention back to the demons, he noticed that thier laughter, too was lightening, fatigue creeping upon them. With a sigh, the fox jumped into the youko's lap and curled up.

* * *

_I wake up in my living room, the sun is beating down on me through the window. My body feels stiff, and my head and stomach hurts. Moving too much makes me dizzy. Looking around, I notice the room is a mess - there are candy wrappers everywhere, and the smell of beer lingers on the many bottles strewn across the room. Hiei is sleeping on a chair across from me, curled up. I briefly wonder how and when he had gotten here. _

_And then, I notice other things - my lap is covered with short, pure-white strands of fur, and on my shoulders lies a couple long, white strands of hair. On the floor to my right there is a brown messenger bag, to my left there are two criss-crossed black feathers. _

_There is a single day each year, where the spirits of the dead are said to be able to return to life. There is a single night each year, where said spirits can walk freely among the living. While I believe without a doubt this day exists, to this day, I have never witnessed that one night. And I wonder - will I ever?_

* * *

Just a nice, happy, just-in-time-for-Halloween fic. No pairings, nothing "dirty" went on between the four that night/morning (shame though! XD n.n;), it was just your average "guys night out". n.n; Just for fun, kidlets. Sorry for the overall crappiness, though. But, hey, I enjoyed writing it, sooo... Read and review, maybe?

Review Responses: (I'm not doing anymore, but since I'm re-uploading this to edit some spelling/grammar typos, I figured why not? n.n)

**ScufflenTussle** - Thank you very much for your compliments! Halloween's always been one of my favorite holidays. :) And, I will be checking out that fic of yours that you mentioned soon.

**shadow dragon** - Thanks. n.n Karasu-humor is hard to do, without ruining his character... I'm glad I'm not the only one who found it funny! As for Shuichi, well, given the deviant nature of our demon friends, maybe it's best that he takes his little "naps", hm?

**Johanna Gen** - Thanks, and I hope you had a great one as well. :)

And, finally...

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!


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